The need to perform operations of assembly, maintenance and/or repair on structures located under water is well documented. A variety of equipment has been developed to help facilitate such operations. Currently, various devices allowing submarine work to be performed in a dry environment are known. These known devices are generally complicated in design, difficult to transport, and costly to manufacture. Moreover, the known devices are constructed with rigid materials. This provides a significant impediment to their use in areas where there are obstacles or irregularities in the work space. A particularly acute problem is presented when structure that is to be repaired is located in places of limited space or where equipment parts or components impede the placement or installation of known rigid devices. This condition frequently arises when performing operations on petroleum drilling platforms having legs that are closely spaced.
In addition, due to the rigid nature of the known devices and to the action of the ocean (currents and tides), considerable stresses are transmitted to the structure or tubing about which a given device is installed. Hence, normally use of these devices is limited to areas such as an ocean floor or to positions where the devices can remain horizontal.